SEO Myths and Facts: What You Need To Know

SEO is a tricky business to navigate, especially for a beginner. It doesn’t help that there is all kinds of false information out there about how to get the best results. In this blog post, we’re going to address some of the most common myths about SEO that permeate the industry that can get in the way of your success.

SEO Facts and Myths for Website Optimization

Myth: Social media doesn’t influence your Google ranking

Fact: While it is true that Google doesn’t use number of followers or retweets as part of its algorithms, social media can indirectly improve your search engine ranking. Successful social media management and activity will help with your search engine discovery and content distribution. If you have websites linking to your social media content, this counts as building backlinks. This will lead to more shares, leading to more links, in a cycle that can boost your ranking.

Myth: SEO is a one-and-done activity

Fact: This SEO myth does a lot of damage for businesses. SEO requires regular upkeep in order to become and remain successful. You must always be publishing more content, more pages, and more blog posts to show Google that your website is active. You can consistently work on your link building to better your online reputation. Popular keywords are always changing, so you need to do regular research to make sure you’re still targeting what people are searching for. Lastly, Google updates their algorithms a few hundred times per year. It’s necessary for you to stay current with these updates to see how the algorithms could change your rankings. If you just optimize your site once and leave it, you will not be able to maintain a good ranking.

Myth: Keyword stuffing will increase my ranking

Fact: While having targeting keywords in your content is important, keyword stuffing will not do your visitors or your website any favours. Keyword density is important – you want this to be at about 1% (so if your text is 500 words, you want your focus keyword to be mentioned 4-5 times). But if you stuff keywords, it sounds unnatural. Your visitors will think you’re spamming them, and Google’s algorithms will be able to pick up on the stuffing. This can actually make Google lower your ranking, giving you the opposite effect you wanted!

Myth: SEO companies can guarantee first page or first place rankings

Fact: It’s impossible to guarantee rankings on any search engine. SEO is a long term commitment that requires experimentation, dedication, and constant tweaking. You will see improvements with any dedicated SEO campaign, but it’s not possible to guarantee anything, no matter how much you spend or how hard you work. Even if a company has found a loop in the system to exploit, Google is great at catching these. In no time at all, you’ll be bumped off the first page and could even end up blacklisted for not following best practices. If an agency promises to get you in the first place spot, you should immediately question their truthfulness.

Myth: SEO is all I need for a successful website

Fact: This SEO myth will help you take your web presence to the next level. SEO is definitely an important aspect of getting your website and business noticed, but there is much more to having a defined web presence. PPC, or paid advertising, is a fast way to increase your conversions and sales. You also need to ensure you’re offering something that clients want. You need unique content and added user value so your visitors keep coming back.

SEO takes time, effort, and dedication over the long term to be successful. There are many components involved, and there are no shortcuts to improve your search engine ranking. VivosWeb can help with content creation, SEO, and marketing to help increase your ranking. We’ll work with you to find the method that works best for your website.

VivosWeb is a full service digital marketing agency located in the heart of Hamilton, ON. Our professional marketing team has significant experience developing websites for all markets and at a variety of price points.